Author(s)

S.A. Ashford & N. Sitai

Abstract

As part of an effort to develop a simplified procedure to determine the seismic stability of steep natural slopes, average seismic coefficients for a range of steep slope angles are developed. A new numerical technique based on the Generalized Hyperelement (Deng"), is used to determine the seismic response of three steep slopes, composed of weakly cemented sand, known to have experienced seismically induced slope failures. The results show that, in general, the average seismic coefficient increases with slope angle, and is dependent on the frequency content of the earthquake. The results also show that the normalized average seismic coefficient profile for these slopes exceeds the upper- and lower-bounds presented by Makdisi & Seed,'° but that Makdisi

Keywords